KYIV. March 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Heads of delegation from the countries participating in the 2017 Eurovision song contest have met in Kyiv, and Ukraine has received good feedback.
“All the issues that appeared during seven or eight months have been resolved, and I’m proud to say that we’re completely ready to hold the contest in May,” Eurovision executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Delegates familiarized themselves with logistics, the agenda of special events and how the process of performances will be organized and security of participants and guests will be arranged.
Each participating country has a Head of Delegation who is the team leader and the contact point for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
A meeting of the heads of delegation traditionally takes place in March and allows teams to better prepare for participation in the song contest. Delegations consist of a performer, back-up singers, the authors of songs, dancers or other performers, the head of the press service and other team members. A delegation is led by the team leader who is a contact person for organizers of the contest and the EBU.
KYIV. March 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with a delegation from Azerbaijan headed by Economy Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev have discussed cooperation in ship building, aircraft building, pharmaceutical industry and agriculture.
“The sides pointed out their readiness to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in the trade and economic sphere,” the press service of the Ukrainian President reported on Tuesday.
Poroshenko appraised the dynamics of relations between Ukraine and Azerbaijan, which became possible, inter alia, thanks to the intensification of bilateral contacts of the two presidents.
Poroshenko called holding of the 12th session of the joint intergovernmental Ukraine-Azerbaijan commission for economic cooperation in Kyiv this year important.
“Special attention was paid to promising projects of cooperation in shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, pharmaceutical sphere and agriculture,” the press service said.
The Ukrainian president thanked Azerbaijan for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and confirmed the commitments to support Azerbaijan in the restoration of its territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders.
KYIV. March 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – K.Fund of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky has opened a representative office of Lean Global Network – Lean Institute Ukraine (LIU) – in Ukraine, the fund said in a Monday press release.
According to the report, the Institute’s activity will be focused on promoting the knowledge of lean approach as one of the cutting edge methodologies that improve enterprises’ performance and optimize resources consumption.
“We believe that deeper understanding and use of lean thinking is a vital, effective strategy to help Ukrainian companies to go through serious transformation, to raise their competitiveness on local and international markets, and contribute into social and economic development of the country,” President and initiator of the project Serhiy Konberianov said.
Konberianov has large experience in the field as an independent lean consultant in Ukraine in the past five years.
Lean philosophy is derived mostly from the Toyota company, which grew to the world’s largest automaker with the help of lean manufacturing. The lean approach to work means that all the workers are engaged in daily continuous improvement of the operating processes, identifying and eliminating waste.
“This approach turns problems into opportunities for development, helps workers to grow, and aids the organization’s leadership in its market,” the fund said.
Lean Institute Ukraine will help spreading lean thinking and practice in Ukraine through publishing books, organizing summits, leading trainings and workshops. You can find the announcements of its events and books at lean.org.ua, as well as on the K.Fund site and on social networks.
LIU is a member of Lean Global Network, which comprises 21 educational and research organizations and dozens of co-learning partners around the globe.
K.Fund was founded by Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky in 2015 to support education and economics projects.
KYIV. March 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine (LIOU), the Association of Employers’ Organizations of Ukraine, the National Academy of Medical Sciences and the Ukrainian NGO Federation for Public Health Promotion have signed a memorandum of cooperation.
According to the report, it is planned that the document signed on March 10, 2017 will become a platform for the creation of the National Health Strategy, defining its principles and basic components in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, WHO recommendations, the scientifically based experience of the leading international practices.
The signatories agreed on the joint search for ways to solve the urgent needs of the health care system in an integrated manner, form new effective mechanisms for its management, and proposed their cooperation be viewed as an instrument for implementing a consistent state policy for the formation of an effective healthcare system.
In the opinion of experts participating in the meeting, among the priorities of the National Health Strategy, in particular, are the introduction of a social insurance model with a multi-channel financing system in the conditions of budget deficit and low population solvency.
KYIV. March 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The government of Kenya has decided to purchase 450,000 tonnes of corn in March-May 2017.
The Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food has received the corresponding letter from the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine.
According to the agricultural ministry, companies interested in corn supplies to Kenya may inform the ministry with a view to further sending the lists received to the Ukrainian Embassy in Kenya. Then the information will be sent to Kenya in the form of consolidated commercial offers from Ukrainian enterprises.
As reported, Ukraine since the beginning of the 2016/2017 marketing year and as of March 7, 2017 had exported 29.91 million tonnes of grain. In particular, the country exported about 13.69 million tonnes of wheat, 4.67 million tonnes of barley and 11.37 million tonnes of corn.
KYIV. March 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The founder and head of Tesla, billionaire Elon Musk, is ready to build electricity storage systems in Ukraine at a price of $250 per kW, he said during the discussion of such an idea on Twitter.
“Sure [we can build energy storage systems in Ukraine]. Just check out my prior tweet on pricing ($250/kWh at pack level),” he wrote on his Twitter page, asked whether something similar could be done in Ukraine.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, in turn, thanked the businessman and expressed his readiness for cooperation.
“Thanks. An interesting idea. Ukraine is eager to become a test site for innovation. Let’s talk it over in detail,” the premier wrote on Twitter.
As reported, at present Ukraine uses exclusively pumped storage power plants for electricity accumulation. The issue of expansion of accumulating capacities is acute for the country’s energy system: its solution is important for cutting the share of thermal power plants operating on scarce coal grades, as well as reducing emissions from the plants.
